Liberalism and Democracy. Relationship Between Fundamental Modern Values and Tradition

Autor liberalnu demokraciju razmatra u odnosu prema europskoj tradiciji iz koje je ponikla, utvrđujući istovremeno i bitne razlike historijskih oblika demokracije i njene novovjekovne forme. Autentični neprijatelji moderne liberalne demokracije su, prema autoru, fašizam i boljševizam. Svoje analize autor sažimlje u tri točke. Prva glasi: u zapadnim su državama načela demokracije uglavnom ostvarena u dugoj genezi sukoba s monarhijskim apsolutizmom i u novije vrijeme fašizmom. Druga glasi: u filozofiji politike novoga doba analizirana je pretežno formalna i kvantitativna strana demokratskih procesa, a to je bitni deficit tih teorija. Stoga autor sugerira analizu sadržajnih aspekata liberalne demokracije. Treća točka posvećena je analizi slobode i demokracije kao formi organizacije političkog života velikih ljudskih skupina kakve su karakteristične za industrijsko doba i suvremeni kapitalizam. Na kraju svoje studije autor odnos liberalizma i demokracije osvjetljava deskripcijom hermeneutičke funkcije morala u moderno doba. Politička kultura i moralna svijest predstavljaju praktičko uporište mogućnosti funkcioniranja posredničke demokracije. Hermeneutički karakter moralne svijesti, naglašava autor, omogućuje modernoj demokraciji praktički odnos s njenom tradicijom bez koje ona ne može funkcionirati, kako to pokazuju one države u koje se demokracija tek danas uvodi.The author examines liberal democracy in relation to the European tradition from whence it sprung and enumerates the biggest differences between the historical forms of democracy and its modern guise. According to the author, the authentic enemies of modern liberal democracy are fascism and bolshevizm. He summarizes his analyses into three points. The first is: in western countries the principles of democracy have mostly been realized in the course of a long genesis following the conflict with monarchist absolutism and more recently, with fascism. The second is: in the philosophy of modern day politics, mostly formal and quantitative aspects of democratic processes have been analysed, which is the biggest shortcoming of these theories. That is why the author proposes an analysis of meaninful aspects of liberal democracy. The third point focuses on the analysis of freedom and democracy as forms of the organization of political life of major human groups charateristic for the industrial age and modern capitalism. At the end of his study, the author puts some light on the relationship between liberalism and democracy by describing the hermeneutical functions of morality in the modern age. The political culture and moral consciousness represent the base for for the functioning of mediatory democracy. The hermeneutical nature of moral consciousness allows modern democracy to develop a practical relatinship with its tradition without which it cannot function as has been the case with those states in which democracy is being introduced today